TRENTON — Mayor Tony Mack is encouraging residents, business leaders, elected officials and news reporters to join him once a week at City Hall for an engaging question-and-answer session.

“I look forward to being able to interact with residents in a civil manner about a wide range of issues,” Mack said on Wednesday in announcing a newly created constituent-centered initiative called Ask the Mayor.

Ask the Mayor is an opportunity for members of our community to share their concerns and ideas on any matter concerning the City of Trenton. The weekly sessions will take place Tuesdays from 10:30 to 11 a.m. in the Mayor’s Conference Room on the second floor of City Hall.

South Ward Councilman George Muschal on Wednesday said Mack’s Ask the Mayor sessions are a “good idea.”

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“I told him you have to put your name and face out there,” Muschal said of the city’s embattled mayor.

Federal officials arrested Mack Sept. 10 on charges he conspired with others to extort $119,000 from a Hudson County developer. The mayor, who is free on $150,000 unsecured bail, has been under federal investigation since September 2010 and earlier this year had his home and City Hall office raided by the FBI. Mack has said he’s innocent of the charges and won’t resign from office.

“He has to step up to the plate as mayor,” Muschal said of Mack. “At some point he has to show he’s doing something.”

Mack was accused by residents and elected officials of being “missing in action” during the height of the Superstorm Sandy crisis. The mayor said he was using Facebook to keep residents informed during the crisis.

“The mayor continues to demonstrate what a joke he has become to the people of Trenton,” city activist Michael Walker said of Mack on Wednesday. “He’s no longer relevant, and every time he issues a press release, he demonstrates this fact repeatedly. … His efforts at public relations in recent days exemplify why he should have never been elected.”

About the Author

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman has been working as a professional journalist since graduating from Temple University in 2007. Prior to his current stint at The Trentonian, Abdur-Rahman worked at The Philadelphia Inquirer and wrote a self-published memoir about his 12-month experience of living in Australia on a spouse visa. Reach the author at sulaiman@trentonian.com
or follow Sulaiman on Twitter: @sabdurr.